Consultant Practitioner Psychologist and Head of Specialties

NHS; Cardiff; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Une opportunité unique se présente au sein de l'équipe des services psychologiques pour les personnes âgées à Cardiff et Vale University Health Board. En tant que Consultant Practitioner Psychologist et Head of Specialties, vous serez responsable de la gestion des services cliniques tout en maintenant une charge clinique. Vous bénéficierez d'un soutien exceptionnel et de nombreuses opportunités de développement professionnel dans un environnement collaboratif et innovant.

Benefits

Opportunités de supervision et de consultation par les pairs

Formation continue et développement professionnel

Qualifications

• Éxpérience extensive en psychologie clinique pour les personnes âgées.
• Compétences dans la gestion de services et supervision.
• Historique de publications et contribution à des conférences.

Responsibilities

• Gérer des services de santé mentale pour les personnes âgées.
• Superviser une équipe pluridisciplinaire.
• Assurer la sécurité des patients.

Skills

Psychological assessment

Psychological intervention

Team leadership

Communication skills

Research skills

Education

Good Honours degree in Psychology

Post-graduate Doctorate in Clinical Psychology

HCPC registration as a practitioner psychologist

Job description

Go back Cardiff and Vale University Health Board

Consultant Practitioner Psychologist and Head of Specialties

The closing date is 10 July 2025

This is a rare and very exciting opportunity to take over the Psychology Head of Specialty role for a number of services relevant to older people. This includes management of the Mental Health Services for Older People, Dementia services (Young Onset Dementia) and Memory Team, other neuro-degenerative conditions relevant to older people and also the Neuropsychiatric Services.

In addition to line management and Head of Specialty responsibilities , you will retain a small clinical case-load of the most complex cases and there is opportunity for you to develop and work clinically within your specialist area of interest relevant to the Older Adult services

The work being undertaken within these services is creative and rewarding. The staff you line manage are highly skilled, creative, hard-working and supportive. The multi-disciplinary team and your wider colleagues/network are similarly talented, supportive and appreciative of psychological interventions and engagement.

The post holder also takes responsibility for patient safety , in conjunction with and as agreed with the Psychology and Psychological Therapies Clinical Director.

You will receive excellent support from the Clinical Director and Directorate Managers of Psychology and Psychological Therapies and MHSOP/Neuropsychiatry alongside the other relevant Directorates.

Excellent opportunities for supervision, peer consultation and CPD are available and well supported

Main duties of the job

The main duties and responsibilities of the job are outlined in the attached job description and person specifications. The role combines clinical responsibilities and line management responsibilities whilst being Head of Specialties relevant to older adults. This includes Mental Health Services for Older People, Dementia and Memory Team Services, Parkinson's Disease etc and also including the regional Neuropsychiatric Service.

English and/or Welsh speakers are equally welcome to apply.

About us

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is one of the largest Integrated Health Boards in the UK, employing over 17,000 staff, providing over 100 specialist services. Working across 6 hospital sites, we have a diverse range of career opportunities to offer. Serving over 500,000 people living in Cardiff and the Vale, we are focussed on the health and care needs of our local population whilst working with our partners to develop regional services. Together we are committed to improving health outcomes for everyone, delivering excellent care and support.

Our mission is "Living Well, Caring Well, Working Together", and our vision is that every person's chance of leading a healthy life should be equal. Our 10-year transformation and improvement strategy, Shaping Our Future Wellbeing, is our chance to work collaboratively with the public and our workforce to make our health board more sustainable for the future.

Job responsibilities

Please see the attached Job Description that encompasses the main roles and responsibilities of the job

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Good Honours degree in Psychology with eligibility for Graduate Basis for Chartership (GBC) with the BPS.
• Post-graduate Doctorate in Clinical/Counselling Psychology accredited by the HCPC (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996 as accredited by the BPS).
• HCPC registration as a practitioner psychologist.
• Post-doctoral training in one or more additional specialist areas of psychological practice, particularly psychological services for older people and neuropsychiatry.
• Qualification in supervision
• Evidence of peer reviewed publications, presentations at conferences, or similar contributions.

Experience

• Extensive and demonstrable experience of working as a HCPC registered practitioner psychologist in services for older people
• Extensive experience of working with a wide range of patient groups presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, in-patient and residential care settings and maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems.
• Experience of teaching, training and professional and clinical supervision.
• Demonstrable evidence of significant specialist clinical supervision within a scientist-practitioner framework, including individual supervision, group supervision and case presentations.
• Experience of NHS management tasks and negotiating with NHS managers, professionals, colleagues and other agencies
• Experience in audit and evaluation of clinical services.
• Experience of professional management of qualified and pre-qualified clinical psychologists.
• Experience of leading a therapy team
• Experience of conducting research of a high a standard

Skills

• Skills in the use of highly complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management, frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Able to take responsibility for managing and providing a specialist service, or systematically providing part of a larger service
• Ability to manage staff (including line management) and negotiate specialty issues
• Ability to use highest level of interpersonal and communication skills to convey and receive highly complex / sensitive information effectively, requiring empathy and reassurance, in a highly emotive atmosphere and the ability to overcome psychological resistance to potentially threatening information, whilst maintaining high degree of professionalism at all times.
• Ability to interpret general clinical, professional and organisational policies and to use own initiative to establish how they should be applied within the area of specialty.
• Ability to design and implement policy for services and to propose service changes that impact beyond that area of activity.
• Ability to plan a clinical service and to formulate a long term strategic plan which may involve uncertainty.

Special knowledge

• Doctoral level knowledge of clinical / counselling psychology theory and practice, assessment, psychological therapies and their application. Including highly developed knowledge of psychology relevant to people with severe and enduring and complex mental health, dementia and those "at risk" and two or more distinct psychological therapies.
• Evidence of significant post-qualification continuing professional development as recommended by the HCPC and BPS.
• Formal training in supervision of other psychologists.
• Knowledge of legislation and its implications for both clinical practice and professional management in relation to the service.
• Up-to-date knowledge of NHS management, service development and policy implementation in Wales-wide services.
• Knowledge of any national service guidelines for the area of specialty and its implications for clinical practice and professional management in relation to mental health services for older people, dementia and/or neuropsychiatry
• Knowledge of local NHS structures.
• Awareness of ethnic diversity issues.
• Commitment to working collaboratively with users of services and their care partners to develop and improve services.
• Leadership and management qualities and ability to demonstrate these skills
• Ability to negotiate within the NHS and with external bodies.
• Ability to motivate and influence people to deliver a high-quality service.
• Ability to contain and work with organisational stress and the ability to hold the stress for others.
• Ability to make decisions and problem solve.
• Ability to cope with continual exposure to distressing and highly emotional clinical material.
• Ability to display exceptional skills in the respectful, therapeutic handling of clients.
• A commitment to the evaluation of services, enthusiasm for multi-professional and uni-professional audit, and a desire to continue to develop expertise in the area of specialty.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board